[776]. Cf. supra, pp. 66-70, and 75-7.
[777]. II. viii. s. 158.
[778]. Cf. Glanvill, VII. c. 10. “When any one holds of the king in capite the wardship over him belongs exclusively to the king, whether the heir has any other lords or not; because the king can have no equal, much less a superior.”
[779]. Glanvill, VII. c. 10, had laid it down that burgage tenure could not give rise to prerogative wardship.
[781]. See Bracton, folio 87 b. The Note Book, case 743, contains a good illustration. The motive for these restrictions was clearly to prevent injustice to mesne lords. It was probably, however, an indirect consequence of Magna Carta that a similar rule came to be applied where no mesne lord was injuriously affected. In 1231 a certain Ralf of Bradeley died who had held two separate freeholds of the Crown, (i) a small fee by petty serjeanty for which he rendered twenty arrows a year, and (ii) land of considerable value held in socage. The Crown took possession of both estates, on the assumption that the admitted right of wardship over the petty serjeanty brought with it a right of wardship over the socage lands also (although these would have been exempt if they had stood alone). The king sold his rights for 300 marks. Ralf’s widow claimed the wardship of the socage lands, on the ground that these were of much greater value than those held by serjeanty. Her argument was upheld, and the 300 marks were refunded by the exchequer to the disappointed purchaser. See Pipe Roll, 5 Henry III., cited Madox, I. 325-6.
[782]. See Petition of the Barons, article 2 (Select Charters, 383). C. 53 of Magna Carta reverts to prerogative wardship, granting redress, although not summary redress, where John, or his father or brother, had illegally extended it by occasion of socage, etc. See also supra, p. [241].
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT.
Nullus ballivus ponat de cetero aliquem ad legem simplici loquela sua, sine testibus fidelibus ad hoc inductis.
No bailiff for the future shall put any man to his “law” upon his own mere word of mouth, without credible witnesses brought for this purpose.